Isn't that the change from "Startup News" to "Hacker News" was meant for? To have more news that was off-topic and non-startup to brake up all the same posts?
Yes. But there's still a certain aversion to having truly mainstream news on this site. For now, it's not a problem because the mainstream news is pretty rare.
Reddit-of-old had this stuff. Just in manageable small quantities sprinkled over the smart stuff. As long as it stays close to this ratio, I think it's fine.
It also made boingboing (and wasn't even posted by Xeni). It's interesting and funny. It doesn't bother me. You should try not to let it bother you either.
